Texas II: JTG Racing/Ambrose preview

AMBROSE, KINGSFORD TEAM, READY FOR TEXAS TWO STEP
FORT WORTH, Tex. -- Marcos Ambrose will have a lot going on this
weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway. He's scheduled to drive the No.
59 Kingsford Tailgate at Home Ford in Saturday's ...

AMBROSE, KINGSFORD TEAM, READY FOR TEXAS TWO STEP

FORT WORTH, Tex. -- Marcos Ambrose will have a lot going on this
weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway. He's scheduled to drive the No.
59 Kingsford Tailgate at Home Ford in Saturday's O'Reilly
Challenge and in Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race.

His focus is leading JTG Daugherty Racing and Kingsford to a Top 10
finish in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings.

"It's a big challenge to compete in two different series at the
same time, especially when you're driving cars that are so
different," Ambrose said. "There's a huge difference between
the Nationwide and Sprint Cup cars. You always benefit from track time,
but they react differently to adjustments, they have different ranges of
power and they don't drive the same because they have different
levels of downforce.

"But as a driver, when you jump from one car to the other, it only
takes a lap or two to get adjusted."

Ambrose and JTG Daugherty Racing are 10th in the Nationwide Series
standings. The team started the season with two goals -- to win a race
and finish in the Top 10 in the point standings.

Ambrose won earlier this year at Watkins Glen, N.Y., so the team is on
the verge of accomplishing all of its goals.

"We've still got a lot of work to do," said crew chief Gary
Cogswell. "We've put ourselves in a good position, but we've
got to close the deal. I know it gets a little busy with Marcos running
back and forth between two garage areas, but when he's working on
this Kingsford car, he gives us 100 percent. He's very focused to
making sure we finish in the Top 10.

"And on Sunday, we all root for him on the other side."

Despite doing double-duty, Ambrose has finished in the Top 20 in 17 of
his last 18 races in the Kingsford car.

"The Sprint Cup car is something we're doing for the future with
JTG Daugherty Racing," Ambrose said. "Our Kingsford car is what
we're doing right now. We want to finish strong. We're not
satisfied with just being 10th in the standings; we want to see if we can
move up to eighth or ninth."